Page 19 of Glass Jawed
“You had paratha and yogurt for lunch.”
“Yogurt’s protein,” I mumble, crunching into a chip. “It balances out.”
“Aarohi.”
Shit. Full name.
“Okay, okay.” I wipe my hand on my pajama pants and blow out a breath. “I ran into someone today.”
There’s a beat of silence. “Rohi, I swear to god, if you say Tim—”
“Lucian.”
“...Lucian? As intheLucian? The boyfriend?”
“Ex-boyfriend,” I correct, staring at the ceiling like it might give me an out. “Tim’s ex. The one who—”
“Iknowwho,” she cuts in, her voice tight now. “Where? How? Why? Ugh!”
I shrug, even though she can’t see me. “Guest lecturer for my entrepreneurship class for a month. Apparently, he’s this big shot in pet healthcare or something. Came in to give us a talk and... yeah.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish.”
A pause.
“You okay?” she asks gently.
“Not really.” I sigh. “It was... weird. He didn’t seem like he remembered me at first. But then he did. And we ended up grabbing a drink.”
“A drink?”
“Not like that,” I say quickly. “He just... wanted to talk. I think.”
Kash goes quiet for a moment. “Rohi, this... I don’t understand why a man would want to talk to someone their partner cheated with—a full year after it happened.”
“To humiliate me more?”
She bristles. “Revenge?”
I chuckle bitterly. “That was my first thought too. But I don’t know. He was...” I hesitate, fingers tightening around the chipbag. “He was nice? Sort of? Cold at first. Then... I told him about the comment. You know. About not looking like a woman.”
She groans audibly. “God, thatcomment. I still want to fly to Toronto and punch him for it. Vancouver isn’t far, you know!”
“Yeah, well.” I shrug again. “He looked gutted. Like properly horrified. He even apologized. And then he... AskedMeOutToDinner.”
“Excuse me?”
“Huh?” I ask innocently.
“Rohi... I’ll fucking—”
“Fine,” I groan. “Yeah... he asked me out. He was very charming about it too.”
“Did he flirt?”
I smile faintly. “Yeah. Subtle. But... yeah.”
